Allende handles the theosophical elements here matter-of-factly: the paranormal powers of the Trueba women have to be taken more or less on faith. And Alba, the last clairvoyant female of the lineage, will end the novel in a concentration camp of the Pinochet regime. Twin boys Jaime and Nicholas head off in different directions-one growing up to become a committed physician, the other a mystic/entrepreneur. Daughter Blanca ignores Class barriers to fall in love with-and bear a child by-the foreman's son, who will later become a famous leftwing troubadour (on the model of Victor Jara).

So, with opposites attracting, the marriage of Esteban and Clara is inevitable-as is the succession of Clara-influenced children and grandchildren. until he falls under the spell of young Clara DelValle: mute for nine years after witnessing the gruesome autopsy of her equally delicate sister, Clara is capable of telekinesis and soothsaying she's a pure creature of the upper realms who has somehow dropped into crude daily life. Headstrong and conservative, Esteban is a piggish youth, mistreating his peons and casually raping his girl servants. Salvador Allende, an ill-fated socialist.) The Truebas are estate-owners of independent wealth, of whom only one-the eventual patriarch, Esteban-fully plays his class role. A strong, absorbing Chilean family chronicle, plushly upholstered-with mystical undercurrents (psychic phenomena) and a measure of leftward political commitment.

The house of the spirits novel